Brooding Caverns
by sj3000
Summary: When Tavros Nitram wakes up in a mysterious pod, things begin to take a turn for the worse when he discovers that he must survive the trials of the Brooding Cavern in order to begin a life for himself. Making a number of friends along the way, he hopes to uncover the secrets behind this foul treatment of the young trolls, but can he survive these trials himself?
1. A Rude Awakening

****Author Note****

**This is my first story on here and the format of this site is confusing as hell, so bear with me. I'll try to have regular updates in here though. I really appreciate the kind reviews people are leaving though and thank you all for taking the time to read this!**

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><p>"<em>What is this? Around me…it's…some kind of liquid<em>…" a thought found itself moving inside the mind of the creature. It heard nothing but bubbling, and saw nothing but darkness.

"_I...I'm called...Tavros_?" the creature thought. He wasn't sure how he knew this. He wasn't sure how he knew anything, in fact. It was just…there.

"…_What do I do now_?" He thought as he waved his arms and legs around, testing the fluid around him. He seemed to have perfectly grown appendages, not the grub-like tendrils of his infancy…

_That's thanks to this fluid, it accelerates your growth. You'll thank it once you face the dangers outside_.

_"Where did that come from?!"_

Tavros didn't have long to think, as an opening emerged, causing the fluid to spill out of the pod into a grating below. The natural light flooding into the pod from outside stung Tavros's eyes, making him recoil.

_Hey now, this is your larval awakening, you better look the part and exit the pod with some dignity. _The voice scratched at the back of Tavros's mind, but he paid it no attention, trying to keep from getting blinded.

After a few minutes, allowing his eyes to adjust to the illumination, he looked around the room he was in. It was composed of rugged dome-shaped walls, carved out of stone. The floor was the only smooth surface in the room, and it was covered with a number of pods, possibly like the one that he was in himself. The 25 or so pods were black, covered with a number of differently colored stripes, and three of them were open, their occupants nowhere to be seen. The room itself was also covered in a number of...mushrooms...that happen to provide the intense lighting for the room.

"_I-I don't want to leave…Maybe, I could_," Tavros reached forward, pulling back the now transparent screening of his pod. It creaked and groaned, so this obviously wasn't how it was intended to function.

_STOP THAT NOW. GET OUT OF THE COCOON. _A different voice chided him. Tavros almost relented, but fear pressed him to continue to pull back one of the four appendages that made up the cover of the pod. A loud metallic groan emerged from somewhere in the pod/cocoon, followed by some rattling, slowly moving up the interior, until…

Splash! A fluid, similar to the kind that Tavros was submerged in, fell from a new opening in the top of the pod, and onto Tavros's head, quickly soaking inside. A stinging sensation filled his head as vivid flashes and visions of death invaded his mind; visions of rebellion, visions of slaughter and culling on a massive scale assaulting his brain. Tavros screamed in agony, pulling his hands to his head and crumpling to the floor outside of his pod. Otherworldly pain wracked his body as he began to see only red. As his vision began to fade, at the edge of his consciousness, a voice said "What's wrong with you?"

Unable to respond, Tavros continued to convulse in agony.

"Hey. I asked you a question. What's wrong with you, lowblood?"

The voice was little more than a whisper to Tavros's mind, too far gone at this point to even mutter a response. A sense of overwhelming dread got to him, and some force tugged at his consciousness, stealing it away.

_I didn't want to have to do that, but you left me little choice._

Time passed as Tavros lay still on the stone floor, unconscious and breathing slowly, but otherwise unharmed. He thought he could hear the metallic sound of other pods opening, but he was too far gone to register what was going on around him. Eventually, consciousness returned to Tavros and he steadied himself as he slowly rose to his feet. A larger number of pods were now open, suggesting that he had lain on the floor for quite some time, testament to the ache in his limbs. Looking around, he noticed that one of the pods had a silvery shine on its opening, and on closer inspection, seemed to house an occupant of its own, more successful in closing her own pod. Tavros inched closer to the green-striped pod, slowly becoming aware of the shivering girl inside. Just a few feet away, and the girl whimpered,

"P-please, don't hurt me…I don't have anything…" The screen of the pod blocked out most of her voice, and in its reflection, Tavros saw himself, his short figure, his grey skin and long, jutting horns.

"It's okay…you saw that stuff too?" Tavros asked the girl, his head still throbbing from the torment it went through.

"…Yes…how do you know about that?" She replied, herself spouting much shorter horns, bent roughly halfway to go back over her head.

"I…had those visions too. You can trust me though, I won't hurt you."

"I...I guess, it's r-really cold in here." She slowly pried open the transparent screening of the pod, stumbling out. She, like Tavros and the others, were naked, but also like them, didn't seem to notice, or care. The two supported each other, arm in arm, as they slowly shuffled toward the exit.

"So…what's your name?" the girl asked, starting to regain her strength.

"It's…my name is Tavros."

"Mine's Eydale, not sure how I know that though…"

"Same here…Eydale," Tavros said to his new friend. The two would face many trials in the days to come, and they had only just begun.


	2. The Lucky Ones

****Author Note****

**Sorry if these chapters seem kinda short, I'm gonna try to keep with regular updates though. **

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><p>Emerging from a roughly-hewn entrance in the wall and approaching a set of downward stairs, Tavros and Eydale ventured deeper into the cave system, discovering a massive and more detailed room, or perhaps a passageway; it was decorated with several pillars, painstakingly carved out of the cave (seemingly for decoration alone), also featuring a tiled floor...or maybe those were just marks carved into the floor as well. The natural walls also featured a number of mushrooms that shone on the bloody scene in front of them. A number of troll corpses lay on the ground, of various ages, the main distinction between them being the larger number of nude, slain children, in comparison to the larger, clothed adults.<p>

_Now, of course, the idea was for everyone to obtain a weapon upon exiting the room, but there was an issue with-_

The voice cut out, and although Tavros had been used to the voice pestering him for a bit now, even this was unusual.

_-and that's why you'll just have to scavenge what you can find off of this...mess._

"This...this is TERRIBLE!" Eydale shouted, tearing Tavros out of his train of thought. "Why would someone do this?! This is just like those visions! Are they trying to scare us on purpose?!"

Tavros was unable to voice a response, but nodded his head in agreement. This waste of lives was horrible, but he couldn't bring himself to shed a tear. It seemed to be...normal. Was this what those voices intended? To desensitize him to life on the surface? What even is on the surface that was so horrible that a slaughter needed to happen down here?

"_But...who are 'they'? Are people watching us go through this, and if so...then why?_" Tavros glanced at Eydale, his train of thought once again picking up speed. "_The voice made it seem like this wasn't on purpose...but then why did it happen? Did these people rebel or something…?"_

_Hey you might want to pick up a weapon before that thing kills you._

"Wait...what?" Tavros accidentally spoke aloud, but Eydale seemed to not notice, and instead, was staring straight ahead in horror, as the room began to shake and a large beast made its presence in the room known.

The monstrosity was easily twice their own height, with two long flowing antenna and a mane above its canine face and piercing yellow eyes, its strong quadruped body featuring long claws and a number of scars, and while it didn't seem to be fully matured, it still posed quite a threat, fangs bared and ready to charge.

"I-is this what killed all those people?!" Eydale stammered, before swallowing hard and trying to look brave.

Tavros didn't have much time to answer before the beast ran at them, causing them to jump down the short flight of stairs in order to avoid the onslaught. In panic, they ran to opposite sides of the room, both running down the passageway. Remembering the voice's advice, Tavros quickly looked around the numerous troll corpses before finding a weapon; a large, almost unwieldy lance belonging to a fallen adult, with this, he wouldn't have to get too close to the beast.

"Can we seriously fight that thing?" Eydale shouted from across the room, seeing Tavros's intentions, "I mean if it did all that, what chance do we have?!"

"I-I don't know myself, but I have a feeling that we need to try!" Tavros answered, turning around to see the beast run at him.

Eydale, in panic, desperately searched the corpses, finding only a dagger. "It's better than nothing, I guess…" she muttered to herself, before looking up and seeing the beast freeze in place, stunned.

"Did you do that?" Tavros asked, seeing Eydale approach him. Shaking her head no, she looked up at the beast in wonder. If neither of them stopped it...then who?

_Get your heads out of your asses and kill that thing before it can move again!_ A telepathic voice shouted to both of them, the source probably somewhere in the room.

Frightened at the idea of the beast being able to move again, Tavros charged with his lance, struggling to keep it held aloft so that the beast could be hit directly. The lance easily impaled the beast through the head, seeming to cause a major wound, but not quite killing it. The beast, now in quite a lot of pain, let out a loud roar, somewhat breaking free from its paralysis.

"It's not enough! Let me do it!" Eydale shouted, regaining her courage and climbing up the beast, and attempting to slit its throat. The beast bucked and struggled, however, and Eydale lost her grip on her weapon and nearly fell off, the dagger embedding itself in the ground.

Tavros, seeing the danger in letting this go on much longer, plucked the dagger out of the ground and handed it to Eydale, who then managed to stab the beast in it's neck, sliding the dagger through and finally killing it.

Walking out of a corner, approaching the terrified duo, was another troll child, this one clothed, however, and rubbing her head, as though she just went through a tremendous mental strain.

"It's about time you two killed that thing. Although I guess the others weren't able to, so that says something about you. My name's Vriska, and I'd like your help in getting out of this shit-hole."


End file.
